7 The Drastic Elastic

Chapter 7 THE DRASTIC ELASTIC "What are you wearing today?" asked Uncle Al. "Well, urn, I'm wearing my blue shorts and that great safari shirt you gave me," said Andrew. "The one with all the pockets." "Perfect!" said Uncle Al. "Remember, Andrew, most answers are in your head or in your pockets —sometimes both! When I gave you that shirt, I put a surprise in a secret pocket. It's under the left side of your collar. It's a new thing I've been working on. The Drastic…" Suddenly Uncle Al's voice faded away. So did the rest of Uncle Al!

第七章剧烈的松紧带“你今天穿什么？”阿尔叔叔问。 “嗯，嗯，我穿着我的蓝色短裤和你给我的那件很棒的狩猎衬衫，”安德鲁说。 “有很多口袋的那件。” “太好了！”阿尔叔叔说。“记住，安德鲁，大多数答案要么在你的脑子里，要么在你的口袋里——有时两者都有！”当我给你那件衬衫时，我在一个秘密口袋里放了一个惊喜。 在你的左衣领下面。 这是我一直在研究的新东西。 极端的……”阿尔叔叔的声音突然消失了。 艾尔叔叔的其他成员也是如此！

Andrew checked his collar. There was a little zipper on the left side. He unzipped it and found a tiny pocket. But there was nothing there! Then Andrew remembered that Uncle Al, smart as he was, sometimes got left and right mixed up. So Andrew checked the right side of his collar. There was another secret pocket. This time there was something in it. It felt like a tiny, squooshy lump. Andrew unzipped the pocket and took it out. It looked like a piece of rubber band with a tiny cup at each end. There was a tag attached to it. It said THE DRASTIC ELASTIC, VERSION 1.1. meep… "Let go of end," said Thudd. Andrew held one end of the Drastic Elastic and let go of the other end. It fell through the grating of the middle shelf and stretched all the way to the bottom of the refrigerator! "Wowzers schnauzers!" yelled Andrew. "This is the stretchiest thing I've ever seen!" Andrew tried to pull the end back up, but the Drastic Elastic just seemed to get longer and

安德鲁检查了一下衣领。 左边有一个小拉链。 他拉开拉链，发现了一个小口袋。 但是那里什么也没有！这时安德鲁想起了艾尔舅舅，虽然他很聪明，但有时也会把左右弄混。 所以安德鲁检查了他衣领的右侧。 还有一个秘密口袋。 这次里面有东西。 感觉就像一个软绵绵的小肿块。 安德鲁拉开口袋的拉链，把它拿了出来。 它看起来像一根橡皮筋，两端各有一个小杯子。 上面有个标签。 上面写着“剧烈弹性，1.1版”。 “放开尾巴。”泰德说。 安德鲁握住剧烈弹力绳的一端，松开另一端。 它从中间架子的格栅里掉了下来，一直延伸到冰箱的底部！“哇兹雪纳瑞！”安德鲁叫道。 “这是我见过的最具弹性的东西！”安德鲁试着把绳子的末端拉起来，但弹力绳似乎变得越来越长

longer. meep… "Yank, Drewd!" said Thudd. "Like yoyo!" Andrew yanked the end of the Drastic Elastic. The other end came whizzing back! "Jumping gerbils!" said Andrew. Andrew tied one end of the Drastic Elastic around Thudd. "Okay!" said Andrew. "I'll get you down to the butter, Thudd. You grab a big hunk. Then I'll snap you back and get you buttered!" "Yoop! Yoop! Yoop!" said Thudd. Thudd jumped off the tomato and whizzed down to the bottom shelf. He landed in the bowl of eggs.

更长时间。“猛拉，德鲁！” “就像溜溜球!”安德鲁猛拉了一下弹力绳的末端。 另一端呼啸而来！“跳沙鼠！”安德鲁说。 安德鲁把强力橡皮筋的一端系在泰德身上。 “好吧！”安德鲁说。“我带你下去取黄油，萨德。 你抓了一大块。然后我会把你抓回来，给你涂上黄油！”“Yoop !Yoop !呜！” 砰的一声从番茄上跳下来，嗖的一声跑到最底层的架子上。 他落在一碗鸡蛋上。

"Are you okay, Thudd?" Andrew called down. But Thudd couldn't hear him. His voice was too tiny to hear from so far away. Then Andrew remembered the little cups at the ends of the Drastic Elastic. He held his cup to his

“你没事吧，泰德？”安德鲁向下喊道。 但是泰德听不见他的声音。 他的声音太小了，从那么远的地方听不见。 这时，安德鲁想起了强力橡皮筋两端的小杯子。 他把杯子递给自己

mouth. "Hey, Thudd!" he said. "Can you hear me?" Down below, Thudd spoke into his end. "Yoop, Drewd!" "Thudd, I'll try to swing you off the eggs and onto the butter," said Andrew. meep… "Know why egg not round like ball?" asked Thudd. "Thudd, it's not a good time to start explaining stuff," said Andrew. "We've got to get you buttered up. And then we've got to rescue Judy." meep… "If egg round, egg roll away easy," Thudd continued. "Egg get broke. Get lost. Ovalshape egg not roll away easy." "Thudd, I'm going to pull you off those eggs right now," said Andrew. "Get ready!" meep… "Eggshell got little holes!" said Thudd, beaming a picture up to Andrew. "When egg got chick inside, chick get air!"

的嘴。“嘿，泰德！” “你能听到我说话吗？”下面，砰砰说话到他的尽头。 “Yoop Drewd !”“砰，我试着把你从鸡蛋上甩到黄油上。”安德鲁说。 “知道为什么鸡蛋不像球一样圆吗？” “砰，现在不是解释东西的好时机。”安德鲁说。 “我们得给你涂上黄油。 然后我们要去救朱迪。” “如果鸡蛋圆了，滚蛋就容易了。” “鸡蛋破了。迷路。椭圆形的蛋不容易滚掉。” “砰，我现在就把你从那些蛋上拉下来。”安德鲁说。 “蛋壳上有小洞！”泰德说着，把一张照片给安德鲁看。 “蛋里有小鸡，小鸡才有空气！”

"Enough of that, Thudd!" said Andrew. Andrew tugged Thudd off the eggs and tried to swing him onto the butter. But Thudd landed on the half-eaten sandwich and tumbled into a deep bread crater. meep… "Bread got lotsa holes like moon," said Thudd. "Hole in moon made by meteor. Hole in bread made by little yeast things. Live in bread dough." Thudd beamed Andrew a picture of yeast.

“别说了，泰德！”安德鲁说。 安德鲁把斯塔德从鸡蛋上拽下来，想把他摇到黄油上。 但“砰”号落在了吃了一半的三明治上，跌进了一个很深的面包坑里。 “面包上有很多洞，像月亮一样。” “月球上的洞是由流星造成的。 面包上的小洞是用小酵母做成的。 生活在面包面团里。”泰德给安德鲁发了一张酵母的照片。